Urartu/Armenian Spearman

[Bagdemagus]

So I have made an Urartu Spearman to be used how you like but hopefully to be included in an Armenian Civ being made with Tatanman, myself and hopefully Sword of Geddon.

I have edited unit's meshes on Blender and the vast majority of the skinning is by myself. The original meshes were by Firaxis, Bakuel and Sezereth (i think but my spelling maybe bad). The meshes have also been changed a lot, nevertheless big thanks to the aforementioned people who have really helped this forum over the years.

The helmet is pretty accurate based upon real specimens, the pattern on the tunic is also directly copied from an Urartu frieze. The shoulder pads are also roughly based upon a contemporary Urartu wall drawing with a large dose of artistic licence (sorry).

This is only my second upload and will be downloadable from the download section, Ill post some pics also.

 

[Bagdemagus]

 

[Bagdemagus]

 

[Bagdemagus]

Urartu dudes.....

Edit - Animation directions in the folder

 

[tantanmen]

Wow! Welcome back to unit-making Bagdemagus. If this is you warming up, I can't imagine what you'll be doing once you catch fire.

The colors and details are gorgeous - this could easily be a hero unit. So many things to love: the triangular pattern at the hem, the waistband-guard, the realism of the helmet & greaves look fantastic with the artistic flourishes of the shoulder pads & shield.

Exceptional quality. You are definitely bringing the fun. Thank you!

 

[Bagdemagus]

Thanks mate that's so generous! Really appreciate your feedback!

Edit - axeman on the way... at least by next weekend if not sooner. Sorry if im a bit slow.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

For a complete set of Armenian units, Look to Realism Invictus. One civ you dont need to create from scratch.

 

[Bagdemagus]

I know but I enjoy doing it, they're nice units especially the fusilier and grenadier but I will be making my own. Thanks though.

Edit - although I will be using the aforementioned Fuslier and Grenadiet theyre too good to ignore

 

[tantanmen]

Edit - axeman on the way... at least by next weekend if not sooner. Sorry if im a bit slow.

Oh no worries, take your time. I'm gonna be adjusting Armenia to your new material.

For instance, I can make a new button from the screenshot to replace the Pantodapoi button. And I've gotta fill in xml text, unitinfos & whatnot.

Also, I changed Armenia's color from Auburn to MediumAquamarine to see how everything matched up.

Spoiler Urartu Royal Guard Preview :

What does everyone think?

Btw Bagsy (is Bagsy or Magsy an ok nickname? prob better if you suggest one lol): But did you add this download link in your first post?:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/resources/urartu-armenian-spearman.28542/

 

[Bagdemagus]

Lol Bagsy is fine.

Looking good, I like the flag btw - where is it from?

yeah needs a new button, I put one in the other folder I thought but you may want to re do it its not great.

thanks for this, its looking like we are getting things moving.

Cheers!

 

[tantanmen]

Bagsy it may very well be then

I believe the flag was created by Xyth (History Rewritten). And oh yeah, sorry - I missed the other button - but I really like it! I also switched back to Auburn colour to compare.

Spoiler Urartu Royal Guard (w. button and Auburn civ colour) :

btw if you need a quick nick for me, I rather like 'tantan' (pronounced 'taun-taun' haha), because it reminds me of sumthin cute & cuddly:

Spoiler tauntaun :

thanks for this, its looking like we are getting things moving.

Yep yep yep. Keep on keepin' on. Doing great, cheers

 

[Bagdemagus]

Taun Taun, good star wars reference lol - wouldn't have remembered without the picture.

Quite like the Auburn but its your call.

Anyway will be in touch soon, excellent progress!

 

[PPQ_Purple]

In a word, nice. And I don't say that lightly.

 

[Bagdemagus]

In a word, nice. And I don't say that lightly.

Thanks buddy much appreciated!

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

What you created is awesome. Especially since its your first unit. I mean by all means make what you want. I pmed Tantan and he suggested the Armenian units from Realism Invictus could be used for another civ. I'll leave the details of that to you guys.

 

[Bagdemagus]

What you created is awesome. Especially since its your first unit. I mean by all means make what you want. I pmed Tantan and he suggested the Armenian units from Realism Invictus could be used for another civ. I'll leave the details of that to you guys.

Thanks for the feedback that's really kind words, much appreciated!

I need to learn more technical stuff though I feel i'm still very limited in what i can achieve.

 

[Sword_Of_Geddon]

Stick with what you can do now. Actually look at this post. This is how I learned to move beyond reskinning:

I guess you are already able to use NifSkope, right? If so, just copy the feather files into your Comcomly and open your modified Charlemagne.nif file and (for this example) the feather01.nif file. Next, in the feather01 file, browse to the NiTriShape node of the feather, right-click on it and choose Block->Copy Branch.

Spoiler :

Next, go to your Charlemagne file, browse within the "skeleton" nodes until you reach the NiNode called "b_head". Then right-click on that one and choose Block->Paste Branch.

Spoiler :

It can happen that the software "forgets" the copied branch after a while, so if the Paste Branch option is not present, just copy again from the feather file.

Now the feather should appear in Charlemagne file, but of course not yet in the position you want to have it. To rearrange it, right-click on the new NiTriShape node called "Feather01" and choose Transform->Edit.

Spoiler :

A new window should appear with which you can translate and rotate the feather mesh. Change them until the feather is positioned in the way you want it to be.

Spoiler :

If you like, you can also change the Scale to resize the feather.

And that's about it. Repeat until you have all the feathers you want on your leaderhead. Once finished, you can delete the feather nif files again, but you will need to keep the feather dds files for texture.

If you want to get a slightly better performance, you should add new feathers of a kind not using the feather nif files anymore, but instead Block->Copy the NiTriShape of it in your leaderhead and Block->Paste it to the skeleton node you want to add it. This way, the NiTexturingProperty, NiMaterialProperty and NiTriShapeData nodes will be the same instead of new instances.

Also, while you are already using NifSkope, you could have a look at the NiPointLight nodes to modify the lighting of your leaderhead. Further, try a right-click on your leaderheads NiTriShape node and go to Texture->Edit UV to be able to modify the texture of your model.

Just play around a bit to see what NifSkope can do for you. As long as you make a back-up of your leaderhead there is nothing to lose.

Enjoy.

 

[Bagdemagus]

I dont just reskin im nifskoping too and im altering meshes in blender.

Edit - if ypu look at the models i have altered the meshes and shape of three items including the waistband in blender.

Pls see my post below this is what I need to know and it seems like a mountain at the minute. Apologies if i sound frustrated been a long day....''Double edit - really appreciate your help mind you thank you and i will take on board any advice , thanks!

Triple edit - interesting info about the lighting, cheers

 

[Bagdemagus]

Stick with what you can do now. Actually look at this post. This is how I learned to move beyond reskinning:

Ive nifskoped several items as you can see on the model and altered meshes on blender such as the shoulder pads and helmet but what I need is someone who can create meshes from scratch and how to import them from blender and attach them. If you know anyone who would be willing to give me help with that id be very grateful. I realise you know loadsa of people on this site but i guess that is not so easy to come by?

Cheers

 

[SaibotLieh]

Ive nifskoped several items as you can see on the model and altered meshes on blender such as the shoulder pads and helmet but what I need is someone who can create meshes from scratch and how to import them from blender and attach them. If you know anyone who would be willing to give me help with that id be very grateful. I realise you know loadsa of people on this site but i guess that is not so easy to come by?

Cheers

Exporting meshes from Blender for attachment is in fact quite easy, you just need to make sure it is not rigged to any skeleton. This is, for example, the case for most of the weapons. If you need a starting point, delete everything from a vanilla unit beside the weapon. You can do this by click on the weapon and unlink the then activated NiTriShape from it's parent NiNode. Then delete the "Scene Root" NiNode and you should be left with the weapon's NiTriShape. Import that in Blender and you have something to start from.